This post inaugurates “RILMiniscences,” a series in which long-time RILM staff members share their recollections. The first installment features retired RILM editor Jim Cowdery, who joined RILM in the summer of 1998 after earning his PhD in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 1985. Before arriving at RILM, he held a succession of part-time college teaching positions. Hoping to move beyond academia, he realized that the skills he had developed while serving as editor of the journal Ethnomusicology might prepare him for an editorial role elsewhere. When he spotted a New York Times advertisement for an editor with an ethnomusicological background at RILM, he applied—and was hired, despite never having heard of the organization before.
That Fall, Cowdery became part of what RILM Executive Editor Zdravko Blazekovic called “the class of ‛98”, the only time that RILM had hired five editors simultaneously. According to Cowdery, “At first, we actually were trained all together as a class–Zdravko taught us how to navigate the computer database that had been designed for RILM, Carl Skoggard and André Balog taught title and abstract editing, and Risa Freeman and Andrea Saposnik taught indexing. At that time RILM was based in the Graybar Building, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. There were more editors than computer stations, so several of us needed to stagger our hours and use whatever computer happened to be available when we arrived. Only one of these computers was connected to the internet, and there was a sign-up schedule for any research that couldn’t be done through our in-house reference collection or via interlibrary loan. Google did not exist then, nor did Wikipedia.”
Editors at the time worked with “batches,” RILM’s term for file folders containing paperwork for 100 records. These batches were stored in a multi-drawer filing cabinet, and editors checked them out and returned them by recording the date and their initials on a clipboard log. Inside each folder, documents were ordered by accession number rather than subject, so editors had to sift through multiple folders to find a reasonable number of records in their areas of expertise. Once an editor signed out a batch, they assumed responsibility for all 100 records it contained, no matter how far those records lay outside their academic comfort zone.
Cowdery recalls that, although his RILM colleagues were friendly and helpful, seeking their advice on unfamiliar topics was considered a last resort, as editors were expected to possess enough research expertise to edit and index any record on a music-related subject. He notes, “I will never forget that my first batch included a large collection of articles about the Trent Codex, thereby initiating me into the arcane world of RILM’s medieval manuscript indexing.”
During his tenure at RILM, Cowdery also published the first edition of How to write about music in 2005, a widely praised manual that tackles many of the specialized challenges faced by writers on music—challenges that general writing guides rarely address. The book brings an international perspective to issues often treated piecemeal and from an ethnocentric standpoint, including work titles, manuscript sources, transliteration, non-Western theoretical systems, opus and catalogue numbers, and pitch and chord names. A second edition followed in 2006, a third in 2023, and a fourth edition–no longer attributed to Cowdery–that substantially updates the work with new discussions of AI tools, digital content, and inclusive language related to culture, gender, and disabilities is slated for publication in 2026.
Cowdery looks back on his years at RILM with genuine affection, noting that, despite rumors of warring factions, tribunal-like meetings, and acrimonious departures, his own 25-year tenure “bore no trace of such feelings.” Instead, he cherishes “many fond memories of mutual respect among colleagues and lively exchanges on esoteric topics.”
**Special thanks to Jim Cowdery for coining the term “RILMiniscences”.
